Moonlit Night
by Moustache Face
Summary: Remus Lupin has never expected to feel accepted or loved in his entire life, but Lord Voldemort's second rise to power could change everything.
1. Chapter 1: The Letter

Remus Lupin turned a piece of parchment over in his hands. It was June 30th, 1995, in the dead of night, and Mundungus Fletcher had just turned up a few hours earlier, clutching a letter from Albus Dumbledore. It was this that Remus was holding unsteadily in his hands while he sat at his desk.

On his small, dingy desk were some items of interest. Discarded to the side was a newspaper, which featured a large picture of a bloodied boy with messy hair clutching tightly to the corpse of an older boy. Underneath the photo, a headline read: TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT ENDS IN TRAGEDY. Remus had looked inside this newspaper when it had arrived earlier that week, but in the main article he found nothing of importance. In fact, the only things that struck his eye in the article were implicit jabs at Harry Potter, the boy in the photo and his ex-pupil.

Also on his desk was Remus's wand, which he had taken out when Mundungus Fletcher turned up at his door. He had forgotten to stow it away, but he thought that it was probably a good idea, considering the contents of the letter.

Remus had been contemplating the letter for the past two hours. Mundungus had told him that the channels of communication were being closely watched by the Ministry, perhaps to spot any news about Voldemort, but more likely to catch people who believed in his return. Mundungus therefore explained (quite proudly) that Albus Dumbledore wanted the letter to be delivered by someone he trusted. And for good reason, since the letter read:

 _Remus Lupin,_

 _By now, you may have heard from the Daily Prophet that the Triwizard Tournament ended in tragedy. However, as usual, the Prophet has glossed over some of the most crucial parts of the story._

 _First and foremost, Lord Voldemort has returned. This is a fact that the Ministry does not want the wizarding world to believe. You may have noticed how the Prophet is now trying to make Harry Potter, the sole witness of this event, sound less credible. However, even as the rest of the wizarding world turns against Harry, it is important that we stand by him and what he witnessed._

 _Secondly, Lord Voldemort will keep quiet – he wants the cover-up that the Ministry is giving him. The Ministry, in ignoring Voldemort's return, is also failing to face the fact that Voldemort will certainly try to persuade the dark creatures to his side. He will go after all the people and creatures that the Ministry has turned its back on._

 _Now, Lupin, this is where you come in. I am rebuilding the Order of the Phoenix, and I would like you to be a member again. I am sure that Lord Voldemort will try to persuade the werewolves to his side, and I need someone to convince them to our side, or, at the very least, someone to spy on them._

 _I hope you consider rejoining the Order of the Phoenix. I understand how dangerous this group is, but do think about it. I am sure that you want to preserve the wizarding world and protect the son of your best friend._

 _I will be sending Mundungus tomorrow, and if you are interested, go with him and he will bring you to the headquarters of the Order. Please destroy this letter after you read it._

 _Best,_

 _Albus Dumbledore_

Remus's heart had leaped with excitement as he read the letter, and almost immediately after it had burned with shame. But he could not help it – for his entire life he had been trying to look for a place to belong. A place where his lycanthropy didn't matter to others. The first place he had found it was in his childhood, at Hogwarts, where he had made friends for the first time. And with his friends, he had joined the first incarnation of the Order of the Phoenix, where he felt like he belonged and was needed…

But after the war ended, with two of his best friends presumably dead and the other one a convicted murderer, he had no one left to turn to, and the harsh reality of his lycanthropy settled onto him. He couldn't find a job, a partner – anything.

Then, two years ago, he had been accepted for a teaching position at Hogwarts, lured in by the idea of free Wolfsbane Potion. There, he met James Potter's son, whom he was overjoyed to teach (although hearing Harry call him "Professor" caused tears to build up behind his eyes occasionally). And although he did learn that one of his friends was indeed a traitor, he also learned that the other surviving friend was loyal. Even his unfortunate change into a werewolf was not enough to stem the joy he had from seeing Harry and Sirius again.

And now, the Order of the Phoenix had returned, and with it, hope for a better life. Yet what Dumbledore was asking him to do was ridiculous. Join the werewolf community? Where he might run across Fenrir Greyback, the werewolf that bit him? He hoped he could convince Dumbledore to free him of that burden.

Remus sighed and looked out his window, a dirty grimy thing that he could barely see through. The black sky was moonless, but where he was, the stars gave off enough light so that he could see the neighborhood. He wondered what the sky would look like if a dark mark was planted right in the center of it. He wondered what the neighborhood would be like if there were death eaters marching through every night.

Remus picked up his wand and pointed it at the piece of parchment.

"Incendio."

The parchment lit on fire and crumpled onto itself. Before long, it had crumbled to the ground in a pile of ashes and nothingness.


	2. Chapter 2: Sirius Black

Remus woke up to the sound of knocking on his door. He had fallen asleep at his desk and was in a very deep sleep, but the sharp rapping woke him up immediately, and he groggily snatched his wand.

It was a few seconds before he calmed down and realized that it must be Mundungus Fletcher knocking at the door. Gripping his wand tightly, he walked to the door and opened it. But it wasn't Mundungus Fletcher at the door – it was a large, shaggy black dog who was wagging his tail happily.

"Sirius?" asked Remus dazedly. The dog bounded in through the open door. Once Remus had shut the door and turned around, he was embraced by a very tall and shabby looking man.

"Nice to see you Moony."

"Wasn't Mundungus supposed to pick me up?"

"But I'm better, obviously."

"Sirius, you can't be outside. What if the Ministry spots you?"

A look of annoyance flitted over Sirius's face. "I can keep out of trouble." Then he replaced his slight scowl with a smile. "Anyways, the Order is back, and I've offered my house up as headquarters. You remember me mentioning 12 Grimmauld Place?"

Remus looked at Sirius blankly. He, of course, remembered Sirius talking about his home in their school years. Sirius had described it as grim and dreary, a testament to the disgusting ways of pure-blood families. _12 Grimmauld Place:_ a home that when mentioned would cause Sirius to go into a catatonic state. It was a home that none of the Marauders were allowed to visit. Whenever James had brought up going over to visit the Blacks (jokingly or seriously), Sirius would threaten to hex him.

"I'll assume that you know where it is, because you're going to have to apparate with me as a dog," said Sirius with a grin.

"How did you get here in the first place?" inquired Lupin.

"Oh, I apparated a few miles north of your house. And then the dog walked here. Don't worry though, I'm a very lovable stray. Some people threw their leftovers at me."

"Sirius, please don't do this again. It's not safe."

"Remus I'm fine," said Sirius shortly.

Remus sighed. "I'll get changed. Give me a moment."

Once Remus reentered the front room, his tattered robes on over his muggle clothing, Sirius was gone and in his place was the black dog again.

Remus struck up his courage. "Alright let's go, Padfoot." He patted the dog and focused on the destination. _12 Grimmauld Place._ He imagined the pictures of it that Sirius had shown him. _12 Grimmauld Place… preferably the alley to the right of it…_

Suddenly he was traveling through a suffocating vortex, the air around him getting tighter and tighter and suddenly loosening its grip and before he knew it Remus emerged on the other side.

They were standing in broad daylight in an alleyway, the location that Remus had hoped he would end up at. The street beyond was crawling with Muggles. As Remus walked out of the alleyway, a couple of heads turned curiously to observe this strange-looking man in a bizarre outfit of tattered robes, accompanied by a very large, friendly dog. They thought he was a homeless man, although they couldn't comprehend why he was wearing such thick clothing in such hot weather.

12 Grimmauld Place had not changed one bit since Sirius and Remus were children. As Remus had remembered Sirius telling him, the building was invisible to Muggle eyes. He assumed that, now being the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, it would also be under the Fidelius Charm. Of course, Remus could see the house, since Sirius had mentioned it to him earlier. It seemed considerably darker than the surrounding houses of 11 and 13, but other than that it fit in perfectly. Passerbys, however, both Muggle and magical, flitted their eyes over the house in the middle.

The dog was wagging its tail eagerly and stared up at Remus. Remus took a deep breath and walked towards the house.


	3. Chapter 3: 12 Grimmauld Place

The inside of the house contained an unspeakable dreariness that the outside of the house failed to hint at. The hallway that Remus was now standing in front of was lined with mysterious curtained objects. Remus vaguely remembered Sirius mentioning these objects. They were portraits of Black family members, and by the curtains covering them, he inferred that the paintings were rather unpleasant.

As Remus was observing the hallway, a small creature had snuck up on him, unnoticed. He jumped when he heard a low, disgusted voice beneath him.

"Master Black, bringing the werewolf to the house. Mistress would be disgusted. Filthier than mudbloods. Filthier than –"

"Kreacher, shut up," said Sirius, who had now turned back into a human. So this was Kreacher – the house-elf that Sirius had complained about so much, and yet another one of the horrible things that Sirius had inherited. Kreacher was a ugly, wrinkly thing, rather unlike the house-elves in the Hogwarts kitchens that Remus and Sirius had met in their childhood.

Kreacher looked up at Remus and scowled once more. He was unable to say anything out loud, however, so he simply muttered a few unintelligible things under his breath and left the hallway. Sirius looked apologetically at Remus briefly, and then nudged him forwards down the hallway.

"Make sure you don't step on anything. Watch out – _watch out_. If you knock anything over you'll wake my mother. And trust me, you don't want to meet her."

There was a slightly ajar door leading off of the hallway, where Remus could just spot a large dining table.

"We'll be meeting in there for Order meetings," said Sirius, once he saw where Remus was looking. "But since no one's here right now, we should just go to my room and wait." He led Remus out of the hallway and up the stairs where Remus encountered another nasty shock.

The wall of the staircase was decorated with the heads of house-elves, all mounted on plaques that read their names. Sirius laughed quietly at Remus's shock. "Family tradition," he explained briefly, and then he dragged Remus up the stairs again.

They finally reached Sirius's room on the topmost landing, on which there were two rooms. On one of the rooms, there was a little sign that read "Do Not Enter Without the Express Permission of Regulus Arcturus Black." On the other door, there was just a nameplate that read "Sirius." Sirius opened the latter door, and Remus was greeted with his third shock of the day.

Sirius's room was a mess of everything anti-Black that he could possibly find. Gryffindor banners and colors were practically streaming from the walls, filling the room with a cozy red light. In the places where Sirius couldn't fit any more Gryffindor banners, there were pictures of muggle motorcycles and bikini-clad muggle girls, which Remus knew had to have infuriated Sirius's mother. The photos remained eerily still, with the eyes of the muggle girls glued to a spot in the middle of nowhere.

There was also another picture, this one was a magical one. Remus approached it immediately once he caught sight of it.

In the photo, he saw himself, Sirius, James, and Peter standing in a row with their arms around each other, laughing at some long-forgotten thing. Sirius was now rubbing James's hair and trying to get it more messy while Remus and Peter watched with interest. Remus – the real life, present Remus – watched them play and felt his chest well up with emotion.

While Remus was observing the photo, Sirius had settled himself into his bed. Sirius was bored now, since Remus had been observing the photo for so long, and decided to interrupt Remus's deep thoughts.

"So, Moony, what d'you think of the house? Do you like it?"

Remus tore his eyes away from the photo. "It's… fascinating. For sure."

Sirius chuckled. "Always the diplomat." There was a moment of silence.

"Where did you get this picture from," Remus asked, gesturing towards the photograph of the Marauders.

"Oh, I think Lily took it a while back. I don't really remember taking it. Do you?" Remus did not, and he felt slightly remorseful that he hadn't. He wanted to remember what they were laughing about. What year were they in? Probably their 7th year. They didn't know what was ahead of them yet. They had no idea.

The doorbell rang downstairs. Sirius jumped out of bed, and a split second later a female voice started wailing horribly.

"MUDBLOODS, BLOOD TRAITORS, HALF-BREEDS IN MY HOUSE. FILTH! SCUM!"

"Well, someone's here," said Sirius, sprinting towards the door. "Come down to the dining room in a bit!" Remus looked at the photo for a bit longer, and finally he went down the stairs and back into the dreary hallway. There was a throng of people standing there, slowly shuffling into the dining room. He recognized most of them from the first incarnation of the Order.

Remus couldn't help wondering how many people would die this time.


	4. Chapter 4: Nymphadora Tonks

As the throng shuffled into the dining room, Remus found himself sitting amongst the strangest group of people he had ever known.

At the head of the table was Albus Dumbledore, white bearded and placid, staring into space as if he was thinking deeply about something. Across from him sat Alastor Moody with his magic eye twitching every way. He was absorbed in a deep conversation with a very pretty young woman with bubblegum pink hair. The young woman saw Remus observing him, winked, and changed her hair to purple. Remus could not contain his surprise – he had never seen a metamorphmagus before. The young woman laughed at his shock.

Sitting next to Moody was Dedalus Diggle, who was speaking to Hestia Jones – at least, Dedalus was speaking. Hestia remained rather silent. Sturgis Podmore and Emmeline Vance were listening into the conversation with amusement. To Remus's right was Kingsley Shacklebolt, who was discussing something or other about the Ministry with Arthur and Bill Weasley. To Remus's left was Sirius Black, and further along sat Severus Snape. Neither looked very happy at the seating arrangements.

Albus Dumbledore suddenly snapped out of his dreamlike state when Elphias Doge joined the table. The table went silent even though Dumbledore had not yet started speaking.

"I assume we all know why we're here," he said calmly. There was a general nod of consent.

"Well, I suppose the best way to begin things is to introduce ourselves," Dumbledore said cheerfully. "I am Albus Dumbledore, Head of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, although I am sure those last positions will be removed quite soon." There was an awkward chuckle at this piece of news. Dumbledore gestured at Severus, whose mouth was upturned in a sneer at this childish execution of introductions.

"Severus Snape, potions master of Hogwarts," Severus drawled.

"Ah, come on Snivellus, lighten up," said Sirius, thumping Severus hard across the back. Severus had difficulty containing his disgust. "My name is Sirius Black, ex-convict – actually, still on the run. You're welcome for using my house as headquarters." Then, in turn, Sirius thumped Remus on the back.

"Remus Lupin, ex-professor at Hogwarts." Remus decided that now was not the moment to reveal his lycanthropy to the young woman across the table (whose hair was now pink again).

Remus paid little attention to the rest of the introductions. When it came to the young woman, she explained that her name was "Nymphadora Tonks," but if anyone called her Nymphadora, she would "stick her wand up their ass" and everyone should just call her Tonks. Remus laughed underneath his breath.

Once Elphias Doge had introduced himself, Dumbledore sat up straighter and began to speak in a more urgent and serious tone.

"Voldemort will try to recruit dark creatures and beasts that the Ministry has turned a blind eye to." Remus felt his face flush red. Now was the time to tell Dumbledore he couldn't do it, it was now or never.

"I've sent Hagrid to go to the mountains and ask the giants for aid. I have also been trying to convince Cornelius Fudge to remove the dementors from Azkaban, but he hasn't been listening to me. Unfortunately, the werewolves seem to have joined Voldemort's cause already" – Remus breathed a sigh of relief – "but we still need spies." Remus breathed in sharply again, but thankfully Dumbledore didn't turn his gaze towards Remus.

"Severus will be spying on the death eaters," said Dumbledore. Remus saw Sirius frown from the corner of his eye. "Bill, Charlie, and Kingsley – you will be our sources into the Ministry of Magic. Kingsley, you especially – Fudge trusts you. Stay there.

"We also need people to watch over Harry Potter." Dumbledore peered over his half-moon spectacles. "I've assigned this duty to Arabella Figg. However, I also need a wizard or witch in this position, so Emmeline, Dedalus, Hestia, and Mundungus will switch positions every week.

"There is also another thing that we need to protect. A secret weapon that Voldemort wants to obtain. It is located in the Department of Mysteries, but it is anyone's guess what he wants. Arthur, Sturgis, and Hestia – you will be assigned to protect the Department of Mysteries. I will discuss these details with you later."

"Alastor and Elphias, I need you to look for the missing death eaters. Find out if they're in hiding or dead. Question the living ones.

"Tonks, Remus, I'm assigning you to watch over Diagon Alley for the time being." Remus's heart leaped for unknown reasons at this partnership. His brief elation was immediately cut short by Sirius's retort.

"And what will I do?" Sirius snapped.

"You will stay here," said Dumbledore calmly, once again fixating dreamy eyes on a random spot.

"So I'm just not supposed to fight, am I?" Sirius said angrily.

"Sirius, you are still on the run. People are looking for you. You cannot risk it."

"I can fight. I can go out. I've escaped Azkaban –"

"Sirius." And that was the end of the conversation. Remus felt pity for his friend: he knew that Sirius had just escaped Azkaban to be imprisoned again, this time in the house which he had escaped from. He would be alone while the rest of the Order went and did the idiotically dangerous things that Sirius wanted to do.

At the same time, though, he couldn't help feeling happy. He was back in a place where he belonged. He was with his friends again. He was needed. He let his mind wander happily, and immediately his imagination fixated upon the pink-haired Tonks.


End file.
